Today, you'll be working in small groups to discuss your assigned short story. The first objective of your discussion will be to gain a greater understanding of the story -- an understanding that goes beyond the superficial reading of what happened.

Based on your discussions, you will be completing a SIFT analysis of your short story. SIFT stands for symbolism, imagery, figurative language, tone and theme. Using this SIFT method of analyis, you can "sift" through the parts in order to comprehend the whole. Cute, huh?

Symbol: Examine the title and text of the story for symbolism
Imagery: Identify imagery and sensory detail.
Figurative Language:Analyze figures of speech (personification, metaphors, etc.)
Tone and Theme: Discuss how all devices reveal tone and theme.

In order to complete this in-class assignment, you should download and review the first two documents below. The third download is your SIFT sheet, which should be completed and dropboxxed at the end of class today.

1 -- The SIFT Method of Literary Analysis
2 -- How to Write About Theme
3 -- SIFT worksheet (use this to complete the assignment)

PART TWO
The second part of this project -- and this is for homework -- involves an LRJ assignment and a group presentation on Wednesday.

Group Presentation on Wednesday
Each group qill give a ten-minute presentation on the assigned short story. This presentation must be given by all members of the group and include:

1. a brief synopsis of the story
2. a brief discussion symbols and how they reveal meaning in the story.
3. a brief discussion imagery and how the imagery reveals meaning in the story.
4. a brief discussion of significant figurative language, including recurring motifs, that contribute to the overall meaning of the story
5. a discussion of the tone and one or two themes your group identified.
6. an identification of aspects of the story that are ambiguous and allow for interpretation
    and    
7. Answer this: What questions about life or human experience are raised by the story?
8. Finally, identify one quote from the story that best captures the essence of the story.

LRJ -- Short Story Analysis #1
Based on your group discussion and your SIFT, you will complete a 2 or 3 page LRJ journal entry that has three parts: Experience, Interpretation, and Evaluation

Experience
Our experience of fiction concerns our feelings about the characters, our sense of involvement in the story's developing action, our pleasure or confusion in its language, and our joy or sorrow of its outcome. Did your feelings about any of the characters change during the course of your reading or afterward? In short, how did the story affect you -- and why? It is important to remember that readers respond to stories in different ways.

Interpretation
When we interpret a story we explain it to ourselves and try to make sense of it. An interpretation is an argument about the story's meaning as we understand it. It's our way of stating and supporting, with arguments based on analysis, what the story means, what it says or suggests. In short, what is the meaning of your short story according to your reading of it -- and why?

Evaluation
An evaluation is essentially a judgement, an opinion about a work formulated at itsWhen we evaluate a story we do two things. First, we assess its literary quality; we make a judgment about how good it is, how successfully it realizes its intentions, how effectively it pleases us. Second, we consider the values the story endorses--or refutes. We may confirm or deny the models of behavior illustrated in the story. What we should strive for in evaluating fiction is to understand the different kinds of values it presents, and to clarify our own attitudes, dispositions, and values in responding to them. Reflect on that.

First, a reminder that will soon begin reading The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, please buy the Neville Coghill translation published by Penguin Classics.

Poetry Unit Exam: Today is the day of the poetry unit exam. LRJ's must be turned in at the beginning of class. When you are finished with the exam, you should begin reading your assigned short story. See below for assignments.

For Monday, you are required to read your assigned story and annotate it. Bring an annotated printout of your short story to class. You will receive no credit for the annotations assignment if you do not bring your print out to class.

With this short story project I will be introducing you to the SIFT method of literary analysis, which we will be using throughout the upcoming Canterbury Tales unit. The first step in any literary analysis of fiction is understanding the elements of plot (conflict, climax, resolution, etc.), figurative language (metaphor, symbolism, personification, etc.) , and other literary terms (tone, mood, theme, etc.). In order to do this you should know ALL of the terms in the following handout. Download and review if necessary.

     Download: Overview of  Basic Literary Terms  (DOC)

I reserve the right to assess you on any and all of these "basic" literary terms -- their definitions as well as how to apply them, how to recognize them, etc. In fact, you will be using these literary terms to complete the series of assignments you will have relating to your assigned short story and the five Canterbury Tales narratives.

The Short Stories
The following short stories were chosen for this project because of their richness in literary value. For example, they can all be read on different "levels"; they allow ample room for interpretation; they rely on the use of figurative language and ambiguity; they raise important questions for the reader; and they are all of a similar length. Note: Although we are focusing primarily on British literature this year, I have also included some American and continental European authors.

Group One: "The Blue Lenses" by Daphne du Maurier 
A2: Wagner, Scott, Taylor, Peloquin 
A4: Waldbillig, Smith, Olinger, Gruber

Group Two: "The Enormous Radio" by John Cheever
A2: Hawkins, Schutter, Heister, Collins
A4: Sullivan, Weber, Wermes, Cooper

Group Three:"The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka
A2: Peed, Harrison, Mendel, Worobetz
A4: Poch, Denoyer, Menke, Fendinger

Group Four: "The Destructors" by Graham Greene
A2: Woodard, Proffitt, Dalton, Cooper
A4: Johnson, Meece, Mulvaney, Shagena

Group Five: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor 
A2: Wright, Eippert, Schneider, Glaser
A4: Diesslin, Pappalardo, Herriott, Calahan

Group Six: "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville
A2: Geyer, Spuzzillo, Savarese, Seigert, Ballard
A4: Sanders, Harper, Fowler

In case you forgot what you're suppose to do for Monday, see the second paragraph above. It is important that you read the story WELL before you come to class. Remember to print out your story with your annotations and bring it to class!